Mystery at MacMaster ch.16

Author's Note: A shorter one this time, though I'll be doing a follow-up a bit sooner rather than later!

[story] [all characters are 18+]

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‭‭‭Two cars pulled out from the alley behind the house, making their way in relative tandem to Kora’s home, the one place suitably large and consistently empty enough to contain six – now five – anxious teenage conspirators. They made the trip in relative silence.

When they arrived at the house, it took a moment for everyone to get out of their respective vehicles and actually go inside. As long as nothing progressed, remained in stasis, maybe they wouldn’t need to talk about what happened… but they would eventually, no matter what. Heather Edwards was the first to get out and stand ominously by the door, with Seneca, then Piper, following shortly behind. Kora took an extra few moments, clinging to Luiza in the backseat of Piper’s car, the book still in her lap. Finally, the last two girls got out of the car, and Kora made her way to the front door – the book clutched to her side in one hand, the other hand hanging at her side, fingers clasped around her house keys while she simply stared at the doorknob, replaying the day’s events again and again in her mind.

“Hey, I’ve got you,” Piper whispered from behind, gently wrestling the keys from Kora’s fingers and unlocking the door, letting the five girls in. The door clicked shut behind them with a cold, metallic chnk of finality, and they made their way to the living room, finding seats and then allowing themselves another long moment of silence.

After a few minutes, Heather Edwards spoke, sitting cross-legged on the massive, blue-and-green rug dominating the center of the living room. “We made a lot of progress today. Acquisition of the object of… obsession, is an excellent step forward. It can be properly studied, now. Real answers found. I’m certain that Ms. Sky and Ms. Kane will also have more details of their encounter to report, once everyone’s emotions have sto–”

“Are you fucking serious?” Luiza snapped, sitting next to Kora with one arm draped around the other swimmer. “Mica’s fucking dead and you want to start interrogating the people who watched her die? Can’t you see Kora’s not in the fucking mood for that?”

“I can see that,” Heather Edwards deflected, “hence my suggestion that we wait until she’s cooled off. Mica was a tragic expenditure, and her loss is deeply, deeply unfortunate, but it will have meant nothing if we don’t utilize the information she died to procure.”

Seneca let out a dark, hollow chuckle. “She didn’t wanna go down there at all. Shouldn’t have. I convinced her to.”

There was quiet again, for a while, after that. Seneca sat with her feet planted, leaning forward with her head hung low, boiling in genuine regret. It was clear that Heather Edwards still wanted to push forward, but was sufficiently stymied by the reactions she’d gotten. Luiza went back to silently soothing a listless Kora, so it fell on Piper to actually seem anxious, to contemplate a solution to the problem at hand, rather than simply pursue their original goals. “We should have a… euh, not a funeral I guess, since there’s not a, um… body,” she began tentatively, arms folded across her small chest. “A wake, I suppose? Just invite other students. Something tells me people over the age of twenty are gonna start quickly forgetting she exists, maybe even her own parents. But… we definitely have to do something for her.”

“A wake,” Luiza echoed, sounding only half-certain of what the word meant in this context, “so just a… casual funeral?”

“A vigil, held in honor of the dead,” Piper clarified with characteristic thoroughness, “a sort of somber celebration, typically including eating and drinking. Occasionally held in remembrance of saints or ancestors, but… yes, also for the recently deceased. It’s the best we’ve really got, since…” she trailed off, not wanting to finish her thought, not wanting to cloud the air with the notion that Mica’s body would never leave that chamber. There would be no funeral, no burial, no grave. Her own parents would forget about her. In all but the memories of the MacMaster high students, Mica Bell would cease to exist, the same way Millie Nowak had.

Heather Edwards chewed at the inside of her cheek, but didn’t protest. Dedicating time to a wake when they could be examining the book and following up on their findings was a waste of time, but to insist on that mean alienating those she was working alongside. She had little choice but to acquiesce to their sentimentality. “Very well. You’re correct. Breaking the news without incriminating ourselves won’t be simple, but at least we can be fairly confident that police or teachers won’t interfere. I’ll send a few texts.”

“And I’ll score a few kegs,” Seneca said, though without her usual enthusiasm for intoxication. After watching Mica die, and having the blame for it squarely on her shoulders, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for some good old-fashioned self-destructive behavior. A moment later, she unexpectedly stood up. “Text me the time and place. I’m outta here. I’ve got bad decisions to go make.”

“Seneca, don’t you think we should–” Piper began, but the other girl had already made her way to the door and back out of the house. Letting out a sigh through her nostrils, the brunette slumped in her seat. “Yeah, okay, that works too.”

While her placid posture and expression didn’t betray her mounting frustration, Heather Edwards also stood up. She wasn’t going to get to look at the book, nor get any further information, until after everyone else had taken their time to grieve. She could use the downtime to do further research into what few revelations she’d been made privy to, such as the caverns beneath the city, and arm herself with further knowledge for when she was finally able to explore the contents of the book. “I’m leaving, as well. It seems likely that our next meeting will be at Mica Bell’s vigil. I anticipate it… eagerly.”

As Heather Edwards took her leave, Piper grew somewhat uncomfortable, as it was now just her, Kora, and Luiza, with the latter two sitting together on the couch, Luiza doing her best to comfort her girlfriend. It was likely time for Piper to go, as well. “I, uh…” she began, but didn’t finish speaking the thought aloud – nobody had raised the question of how they would spread the news of Mica’s death without incriminating themselves. The freckled beanpole took a moment to apply her not-inconsiderable brainpower to the task without assistance, and it was only a minute or two before a solution (if, perhaps, an imperfect one) entered her mind. If she drafted up some official-looking fliers announcing the tragedy, and hung them up around school, the teachers would make the excuses for them, the same way they’d brushed off Millie’s disappearance. There would be a few days of confusion, and after that, it would just be… another mystery. Something of an ignoble way to go, but that was what the wake would be for. “I’ll get going, too,” Piper finally said, a plan in mind. This was something she could deal with on her own, and save everyone else a little pain.

“Later, Piper,” Luiza said with a small frown, watching the lanky teen get up and leave. When she was alone with Kora once again, she rested her forehead against her girlfriend’s, giving her a soft squeeze around the shoulders. “I’ll stay with you for as long as you need me to, alright?”

“Thanks,” Kora said softly, though her gaze was distant. “You should know, Lu; something… happened, when I opened the book. I don’t know exactly what.”

“Do you… wanna talk about it?”

“I’m not totally sure what there is to talk about,” Kora replied pensively, “it was like time stood still, and I couldn’t stop looking at it. Like I was learning, but not reading, and I can’t remember what it is I learned. I keep thinking about picking it back up and trying to read it, but… I’m afraid.” She sighed, laying her face into the crook between Luiza’s neck and shoulder. She’d seen too much for one day. Way too much.

“Why don’t we get you into bed, huh? Just hang out for a while. We don’t have to talk about anything, or do anything. Just… let you unwind.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good,” Kora took a deep breath, standing and grabbing the book from beside her, then heading upstairs to her room with Luiza. She tucked the book away in her closet, along with the sword she’d brought from the house, two physical manifestations of fresh mental wounds, relics of the scars they would leave. Stripping down into her underwear, Kora toppled sideways onto the bed, soon comforted by the sensation of Luiza’s arms wrapping around her from behind, holding her close and tight, letting her know she wasn’t alone.

She could only imagine how Seneca was feeling.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Piper’s plan worked exactly as expected. After printing out the fliers and surreptitiously posting them all around the school, there was an initial wave of outrage and uncertainty, those who wanted answers, closure, some reason for Mica’s death, some way that it all made sense. And, exactly as predicted, the teachers ran defense, answering questioning students by downplaying, handwaving, buck-passing, and occasionally even straight-up making shit up. As they had been with Millie Nowak, they were incapable of being helpful, following some kind of supernatural instinct to use their authority to interfere. A few students even went so far as to call the police who, if possible, were even less useful, becoming threatening when pressed too far. By thursday, everyone knew better than to ask any more questions, and that was the perfect time to quietly announce the wake taking place on saturday, at Luiza’s place.

Tragically, it was certain that Vanessa and Octavia would be coming – they were by far the closest to Mica, after all – but the RSVPs thus far suggested that it would be quite the full house. Rosa would naturally be there, since the event was taking place in her home, and Piper was bringing the Radis along. Vanessa and Seneca being in close proximity to one another proposed some problems, which prompted Luiza to send a special invitation to the Curie sisters, relying on them to be sufficiently chaotic and distracting to curb any drama before it arose, if such a thing was possible.

While not at school, Kora spent much of her free time at home. Several days passed where she didn’t call or text anyone, seek any human company, or really leave her room. Instead, she spent her time with those relics, those keepsakes. She’d spend some time fucking around with the sword, swinging it back and forth, getting a feel for its weight and the way it cut through the air, the way its handle felt in her hand. So strange to think that she’d already killed with it – even if her opponent hadn’t stayed dead – and she didn’t even really understand its make or origin. Still, nobody else had laid claim to it, so as far as she was concerned, the sword was hers to keep, something that deeply tickled a part of her that had always wanted to be some sort of knight or ranger as a little girl, hunting monsters and rescuing damsels. Unfortunately, the one damsel she might have had an opportunity to save had died right in front of her, sword be damned.

The rest of her time she spent obsessing over the book. She hadn’t opened it, not since the first time, but she couldn’t help but hold it, stare at it, try to remember the things she’d seen, the strange information it had contained. Her fingertips tingled when she held it, and there was a bizarre, burning numbness in the back of her head, somewhere in her mind, something that yearned to plumb the tome’s depths, to understand it, bond with it… but she dare not. Not yet. No matter how potent and compelling that urge was growing.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Saturday

“I, uh… didn’t know Mica all that well,” Piper said, shifting nervously from foot to foot, standing in front of a large, framed picture of Mica bell, surrounded by candles and flowers. Piper was dressed as formally as she’d ever been seen, meaning she wore black jeans and sneakers, an untucked white button-up, and an untied black necktie hanging loose beneath her collar. She owned nicer clothes, she just… didn’t ever really wear them. “We met when we were both really young, then we… sort of stopped spending time together, I guess. It wasn’t until recently that we started to reconnect, and I gave her a, uh… pretty hard time, I guess.”

She swallowed hard, looking around at those who had gathered. Vanessa and Octavia had shown up, of course, wearing their sluttiest all-black minidresses in honor of the third member of their trio. Kora, Luiza, Rosa, and Seneca were all present, though Kora still seemed distracted, as she had all week, and Seneca had already been drinking heavily. Farah and Fatima had shown, along with Carrie and Maxie Curie, while Heather Edwards was notably absent. A few other girls from school had arrived to pay their respects as well, but nobody Piper knew well enough to recall the names of. “Uhh, anyway, I… yeah. Just… she ended up being a better person than I’d thought, I guess. I wish I’d been more kind to her, while I’d had the chance to be.” Deciding this had gone on long and awkwardly enough, Piper stepped down and back into the crowd, gesturing for anyone else who wanted to to come up and give their last respects.

Vanessa (with Octavia slightly behind her) quickly stalked up towards the ‘stage’ beside Mica’s picture, looking uncharacteristically grim – her eyeliner was smudged, though whether she’d actually been crying, or it had been artfully affected ahead of time was difficult to determine, since she still looked perfectly attractive and well put-together. “I just wanna start off by saying I don’t fucking believe what everyone’s saying about Mica. All these people saying she skipped town or overdosed clearly don’t know shit, since Mica didn’t do drugs.” Vanessa pursed her lips in annoyance, then clarified, “They were fucking horrible for her pores, and if we were gonna be bad bitches, she had to keep her skin tip-top. The freckles were honestly like, bad enough.”

Swallowing, Octavia spoke up, “She was also like… a really good friend.”

“Yes, absolutely. She was the ‘sweet one’ I didn’t know we needed – even if she did keep trying to fuck my mom or whatever. Honestly, I hope she managed to pull it off at least once before… before whatever happened to her.” Despite her behavior being more-or-less expected, more shrewd observers noticed something different in Vanessa, a cracking of her mask, a glimmer of some sort of vulnerability beneath. She was sad, potentially extremely so, though it was difficult to tell when her defense mechanism seemed to be ‘acting exactly the way she always did,’ at which she was peerlessly well-practiced. “Gonna miss you, bitch.”

After Vanessa stepped down, more girls stepped up to say their piece, though Piper gently discouraged a visibly-intoxicated Seneca from taking a turn of her own. Kora’s last respects were short and dry, her heart and mind very much elsewhere, and even Carrie had stood up to say how she and Mica had been closer friends when they were younger, not mentioning the fact that it was becoming Vanessa’s subordinate on the swim team that had eventually driven them apart.

Then, as with all the best wakes, mourning was followed by celebration, the full spectrum of remembrance taking place within Luiza’s home. Seneca rolled in a keg of beer, while Maxie had brought a huge glass jug of homemade punch, something only the bravest souls dared broach – with Maxie, who knew the degree to which it had been spiked, and what depraved acts her cherry-red concoction might encourage by the end of the evening. Food consisted of the leftovers in Luiza’s fridge, the lamb korma and jasmine rice the Radi twins had brought, and a sackful of swiftly-cooling cheeseburgers Vanessa had bought from the Beefway across the street.

Carrie and Octavia both offering to act as DJ led to an argument over which of them was the ‘better bottom,’ resulting in them dragging a random girl to an empty bedroom to get an impartial judge. After that, Seneca and Vanessa had both made moves to take over, with Maxie artfully intervening before the two could make contact, taking off her shirt and throwing it at Vanessa. Spotting the pre-planned distraction, Piper allowed music duty to fall upon her before another power-struggle could form. This led to a somber, eclectic music selection that, while not necessarily getting anyone ‘turnt up,’ ended up fairly appropriate to the mood of the wake.

“Y’know,” Seneca said, sidling up to Rosa Domingo as the latter scooped out a cupful of Maxie’s cursed punch, “there was this guard in juvie. Tall, muscular. Really strong hands. Shoulders, mmh. Always kinda had a thing for her. Tried to seduce her, but… well, me bein’ seventeen and all, that wasn’t gonna happen.”

“This going anywhere?” Rosa arched a brow, looking down at the smaller, half-drunk teen.

“You kinda remind me of her, only she wasn’t as cute as you,” Seneca pursued the point, “and… I’m eighteen now.”

Rosa was thoughtful for a moment, taking a long swig of the punch to encourage some poor decision-making. Seneca was trouble on wheels, but she was definitely attractive and there was no doubt she’d be a blast in the sack. “Seneca Sky, right?”

“Best recognize.”

Rosa let out a sigh, drained her cup, and reached out to take Seneca by the wrist, beginning to lead her upstairs. “Alright, let’s do this. But no complaining if you get hurt.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”